Goodbye beautiful // King Roan

Chapter 3

He halted the horse at some kind of cave opening, but it was well cut out with stairs and everything so it wasn't a natural cave. Roan got off the horse and I jumped down after him, not wanting him to help me. Tugging at the rope he began walking down the steps to the underground room. I followed him and looked around, someone had been here not too long ago. There was an old fireplace and a lot of plants crawled across the walls. Roan walked over to the further wall and tied the rope to a metal ring in the wall. Pulling on the rope he made sure that it wouldn't untie. He then turned to me and took the three daggers from my belts. With a last warning glance in my direction he began walking over to the fireplace and started a fire. I sat defeated down on the floor. My weapons were taken from me and I had nothing else useful on me.

I didn't know how long I was sitting there, my eyes closed, trying to get some sort of rest. The fire was the only thing shedding light in the cave. I rested my head against the wall, feeling my stomach ache. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and Roan had crashed my dinner. Even if I was used to starving sometimes I still made sure to eat at least two times a day, even if it was just a bit. I closed my eyes for a second, it was probably in the middle of the night.

Footsteps coming towards me made me look up at him. He pulled down the gag and held out a piece of meat. "Eat." was the only thing he said. Hesitantly I took it, keeping a wary eye on him. I began eating and truth be told it didn't taste that bad.

"What's your name, girl?" he then asked, eyes staring at me coldly.

I looked up at him. He didn't know yet. "Khalida." It was the false name I had adopted ever since my people were killed. I liked it because it meant Deathless, Immortal. Just like me. I had survived when the rest of my people hadn't. My real name would probably also get me killed.

His gaze then turned to my shoulder, the shoulder that had been cut. Roan crouched down next to me and moved the leather coat and shirt away from the wound. He was sitting so close to me that I could smell his scent. Blood and ash. I turned my head away from him before it got too intoxicating. Roan got up again and walked over to the fire. Placing a knife in the fire I watched the blade become red. But why would he take care of a wound for me? The only thing I could think of was that he needed me alive.

Before I could figure out why he needed me alive he was walking towards me with the warm knife and a piece of fabric in his hands. I wasn't bothered by it, I had lived so long in the forest that it had become a habit to close wounds by burning them. Once again he sat down next to me and removed my shirt from the wound. He began cleaning the wound and the dried blood. Without warning he pressed the scorching hot metal against my skin and I hissed and winced at the pain. The smell of burned skin reached me and made the hairs in my neck stand. I always hated that smell.

I watched as Roan then stood up and walked back to where he sat before. Putting the knife down on the floor he let it cool down. I was tempted to say 'thank you' but in the end I didn't. He didn't deserve my gratitude.

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The next morning we were back on the horse back. My hands were tied and I was once again gagged. It might be because I asked too many questions. 'What do you want with me?', 'Where are we headed?' and stuff like that. At last he got irritated and gagged me. Got no one except for me to blame.

Roan was silent again and I couldn't speak. It was slightly raining and I was glad for my long sleeved leather coat, usually I would use a short sleeved one with leather gloves. I kept my gaze in front of me, watching the tree lines, listening for anything. But we didn't encounter anyone or anything. These woods were unfamiliar to me, either we were close to the coast or a clan territory I had yet to explore.